Letters to the Editor - 12/9/2012

Editor: Imagine a world where there are no lobbyists to corrupt the political system. No K Street in Washington, no union lobbies, no gun lobby, no PACs and the concomitant lies and distortions. Imagine a system where we, the voters, are the priority of those who represent us in the halls of government.

Many countries enjoy such systems by way of political campaigns controlled and financed largely by the government.

In Germany before every election cycle the government rules on the fair distribution of government funds to the parties. Parties receive funds in proportion to the latest election results plus a partial matching amount for private donations up to about $4,000.

State and local laws limit campaign billboards to a few weeks before the election; state laws limit campaign advertising on radio and television to a few spots in the month preceding the election. The various political parties are thereby limited to the few officially granted campaign spots.

Contributors of more than $12,000 per year must be named. Individuals may deduct 50 percent of their donations up to $4,000.

Donations from charitable organizations and from trade unions, professional associations, businesses, and industrial or commercial associations are prohibited. Violations of fiscal rules bring stiff prison sentences.

During the campaigns political speech may be robust, but it is not exempt from criminal laws, and these contain stringent provisions against various forms of hate speech, insult, and defamation. Politicians who tell pants-on-fire whoppers about their opponents find themselves in court to justify their statement.

I don't suggest that the political process in Germany is perfect, but I can't help but wonder - especially after the nastiness spewed by politicians and PACs during the last election cycle - why we can't inject a measure of decency into our system and get our politicians away from the lobbyists' trough.

NORBERT MAYR

SOUTH ABINGTON TWP.

'Just sees what he wants to see'

Editor: Listening to House Speaker John Boehner comment last week on the progress, or lack of, in negotiations to avert the "fiscal cliff," I couldn't help but wax nostalgic.

Successful in remembering every significant event in my life by attaching it to a tune, I must again seize the opportunity. In order to remember Boehner's faux paus, however, I have to reach back as far as the '60s. Never would there be a more perfect song to pay homage to Boehner's behavior and make it memorable, than to dredge up that Beatles hit from 1965 - "Nowhere Man:"

"He's a real nowhere man,

sitting in his nowhere land,

making all his nowhere plans, for nobody!"

Come on, John! Surely you can find a copy in an oldies catalog somewhere, but shop early! It will become very popular after Jan. 1.

Additional credit should be given to Mitch McConnell for his accompanying laughter.

EARL BAILEY

SCRANTON

Up to city to heal self-inflicted ill

Editor: The Electric City is in the dark, and is seeking to have commuters as their generator. The city of Scranton's recovery plan is neither legal nor moral. The figures used to reach their conclusion were fabrications, therefore rendering the document bogus at best and a misrepresentation at least.

The framing of the plan will not achieve a balancing of its budgetary process, but is rather an act of "framing" the commuter to pay for the fiscal negligence of city officials.

The city's problems are the direct result of political and fiscal failure made worse by neglecting to correct its flawed budget process, allowing a poisonous financial state to fester. Injecting more money from commuters is tantamount to giving an addict more drugs.

The cure called for is a review of its problems by a fiscal diagnosis and a change in medicine, which will be painful for the city, not to its selected surrogate, the commuter.

The recovery plan is an idea doomed to failure because it is morally wrong. It fails the test of equality and fairness. In the end commuters would pay more to Scranton than to their hometowns.

In 1993-1994 commuters paid the city $2.7 million to balanced Scranton's budget.

ln 1995, Mayor Jim Connors took the commuter tax out of his budget since he felt the city was no longer distressed.

Since 1995 the city failed to pay heed to budget balancing. For the last 17 years the city virtually spent itself into bankruptcy.

A commuter earning $20,000 will pay 1 percent or $200 to Scranton, double what it pays to his home community since that 1 percent wage tax is split between the municipality and the school district. The city also collects $52 per commuter in municipal services tax. This isn't fair.

THOMAS W. SCARNATO

OLD FORGE

Contentious muck infests sewer

Editor: I have been attending meetings of the Jefferson Twp. supervisors and sewer authority for the past several months and the residents need to come out and see for themselves our local government in action.

Or rather, the way our local government is wastefully spending our money. And we'll be paying more. More sewers are coming for 25 houses on Living Waters and Archbald Mountain roads where there are only two suspected failures of septic systems. The price tag is around $1.2 million for these two roads.

I hope everyone here has good jobs because the annual rate for sewers is planned to go to $840 per year.

It's really disgusting to observe the lack of respect these so-called public servants show for residents at meetings including cursing and shouting - all because these officials do not have the answers to questions. They act unintelligent and uninformed. Ignorance is their only defense. Residents need to take a stand against this.

NANCY UTTER

JEFFERSON TWP.

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